SIGHTINGS Acts 7

SIGHTINGS: JESUS LONG BEFORE THE MANGER; LONG AFTER THE CROSS

ACTS 7

When I log on to the West Ridge Journal site in order to comment or review comments I am confronted with a option that has a box next to it. The options speaks to me without a voice, but nevertheless, it speaks loud and clear. It asks if it wants me to be entered its memory for future visits with the tag: Remember Me. Matthew 13:14-16 is Jesus’ comment on the same subject. He said: the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

By citing Isaiah’s prophetic proclamation, Jesus drew the Jews of His day into the word of the prophet. When He did this, it was with an admonition and an exhortation that has a  twinge of sadness, as Jesus said that they had forgotten God.

An old friend of mine was rudely confronted with our societies position in light of this prophetic challenge at a Hallmark’s recently. Dave Jefferies, a man I went to Bible College with in the 1980’s was looking for a Religious Sympathy Card to no avail. He asked for help and… well listen to his own account of what happened: “I went to Hallmark and the manager asked me if I needed any help. “I’m looking for encouragement cards, something Spiritual”, I said. “Oooh, that’s a problem”, she replied, ‘We removed everything Spiritual to make room for Easter!’” That’s what you call ironic, and that’s what I call a problem. We have forgotten who we are and who has brought us to where we are. Stephen faced the problem in Acts 7. Look with me today at his attempt to get the people to remember:

I) JESUS: THE COVENANT OF THE PAST

7:2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, before his walk of faith started – Jesus was there. Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, ^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground… For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  ¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Genesis 1:26; Colossians 1:13-17). “Brothers and fathers”: Stephen was an Israelite connected to the Abrahamic Covenant. He respected their institutions and convictions even as a believer in Christ. He knew promises were made to all the families of the earth.

7:3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ The purpose of Stephen’s review of history had purpose: 1) defend the Gospel against False Charges, 2) Establish a parallel between the OT Israeli treatment of the Prophets and the Jewish Leaders treatment of Jesus. The God of Glory appeared to Abraham while in Mesopotamia, in Ur of the Chaldees (some archaeologists like Cyrus Gordon believe there was a more Northern Ur instead of the Ur on the Euphrates east of Babylon: tell the Pittsburgh CA vs. Pittsburgh PA story). Genesis does not record Abraham received the revelation in Ur, but it must have existed in other writings that we do not have any longer. Nehemiah 9:7 alludes to it, showing that it was God who brought Abraham out of Ur, changing his name from Abram, as it says: “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham”

7:4 So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. Settled in Haran until his dad died. Greek indicates establishment of a permanent home. Ancient Jewish tradition says Terah was an idol maker, specifically of the moon god. Haran was the center of worship for moon worship. It is unclear if God spoke to Abraham again here, or he remembered and began obeying after his father’s death. What God wanted when He first spoke, He still wants now: Faith that trusts Him enough to do what He says.

7:5-6 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. Archaeology has given us insight into why Abraham never received the confirmation of inheritance. Canaanite law prohibited merchants who were rich outsiders to settle as land owners, as they could “take over.” It could lead to the problem of foreigners influencing the people out of financial obligations. The lack of land ownership tells us that Abraham was more than a shepherd. He dealt in gold, silver, spices which made it illegal to own land.

Even though Abraham came into the land out of obedience, he never received a personal inheritance in the land. He never owned as much as a piece of land that covered his footprint. He was a stranger and pilgrim, even before he had a son, God promised him the land.

6) The reference to Genesis 15:18-21, speaks about Abraham’s need to stop fearing and begin trusting God to be his shield and inheritance. It says On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi ^[a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”. God was telling Abraham to: “pay attention to me!” Abraham’s faith demonstrates belief without actual proof or evidence of fulfillment. Why is this important? These members of the Sanhedrin were refusing to believe God with evidence as seen in the resurrection.

7:9 Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him. The Patriarch’s who were made up of the 10 sons of Jacob by Leah and his concubines were moved with jealousy. This is intended to contrast Joseph’s treatment at his brothers hand, and Jesus treatment at the hand of the Jewish leaders. God is the controller of salvific history: he could have been sold to anyone, instead he was sold to an officer who strategically placed him at the center of Egypt.

7:10-15 God delivered him out of all his afflictions by making him business manager and Prime Minister. Patriarchs: “our Father’s.” Joseph is introduced to his brothers as: Zaphnath-paaneah, Prime Minister of Egypt. The granting of an Egyptian name conferred citizenship. Benjamin’s portion: 7x larger in order to elicit jealous reactions. Were they still the same? Joseph’s treatment by his brothers is likened to Jesus treatment at the hand of the Sanhedrin. Emphasis: Joseph was sold because of jealousy, yet God used his trouble for His peoples good.

II) JESUS: THE GLORY OF THE PRESENT

7:19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. Enter Moses and the infants who were cast out to die. ‘Cast out’ was a technical term that addressed the Roman practice of placing unwanted children on garbage heaps for animals to take away. Here it speaks of the Crocodiles. Moses was born fair (lovely, fine) to God. God was with Moses from birth. Scripture shows us that God is always with those He intends to give special opportunities for ministry and service, preparing them from birth: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born (Jeremiah 1:5 and. Luke 1:15) also shows John the Baptist leaping in Elisabeth’s womb.

7:25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. Stephen’s summation is about to crystallize: Moses was intended to be a deliverer (soteria), a issuer of salvation as in health and well being. This shows us that Moses both believed God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that he was sensitive to the need to believe that God’s hand had been guiding this need for deliverance. Moses saw God’s hand: the people didn’t. This is a clear parallel to the leaders lack of understanding. Moses understood God’s hand and expected the people to see it. Stephen’s point is powerful: the Jewish leaders failed like the slaves before them to see God’s true provision.

7:27, 29 “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” … When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. The people had resisted and rejected God’s purposes for them. The parallel is the same: Moses rejected the riches of Egypt for a promise that was greater than all that Egypt offered.

7:30-32 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. Horeb: God’s mountain. This angel was no ordinary angel: He is a manifestation of God Himself, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of Man. Jesus is and has always been, the one mediator between God and man. He is in creation: He created everything: Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3), He is in redemption: there is only one God and one mediator… He gave His life a ransom… Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made, For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (1 Timothy 2:5, 6; Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24), He will be in the coming judgments: the Father leaves all judgment to His son… He gave Him authority to judge all mankind because He is the Son of Man (John 5:22, 27). He is our mediator now, and He was our mediator in the OT as well.

(31) When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. Moses looked (horoma/vision) and saw an objective vision, a real appearance that was seen with the eyes, not simply in the imagination. He really saw the bush burn and really heard the voice of God. God then declared Him to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When the Pharisees confronted Jesus with their refusal to believe in the Resurrection and the future life that is provided through Jesus, Jesus pointed to this truth and made it clear that He was with Abraham and before, directing the process of salvation. He is the God of the living (perpetually), not the God of the dead. What God Has Promised He Will Accomplish: The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great,        and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

III) JESUS: THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE

7:33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. The ground was holy ground because God had manifested Himself there. Joshua had a similar experience as the Lord of Host appeared to him. Joshua worshipped Him. This tells us that He was also a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus and not an ordinary angel. A regular angel would have forbade worship. The command for Joshua to remove his sandals confirms the divine nature of that Angel.

7:34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’ The repetition “I have seen” tells us that God really knows our plight. He has always been moving us toward deliverance. To accomplish this, He tells Moses: “Come!” This is the same command Jesus used to call the disciples to come and follow Him. Then a request is added to the command: “Let me send you into Egypt (Greek subjunctive, not command).” Remember the Garden experience with the cup?

7:35, 37 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush… “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ Here is Stephen’s main point in this part of Jewish history: Moses was refused/rejected when he came the first time, even though he had been sent by the Hand of God. Thus the answer to the early question is answered (who made you ruler). God made Him ruler and more. Stephen is again making the point that the stone the builders rejected is the chief cornerstone: The stone the builders rejected        has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22). He reminds them that this same Moses who was rejected told them that God would raise up a prophet like himself (rejected and redemptive). The Old Testament always points to Jesus Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?…” ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms… So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ^{[a] 9} So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (Luke 24:26-27, 44; Galatians 3:24, 7-9; 1 Peter 1:10-12). Every time God showed up – Jesus showed up: Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory…    ¹⁹ And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live… ²¹ Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen…The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen (Exodus 33:18-23; Colossians 1:15; John 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16). Jesus is the one they were to listen to and obey.

The leaders knew that the apostles applied this to Jesus, Him being a prophet like Moses. All the believing Jews used this application. They knew Stephen was saying that they were refusing to listen to God, thus they were being disobedient. This implies that they were treating Jesus and Moses with contempt: “if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if you don’t believe his testimony (writings), how will you believe me and my words (John 5:45-47)?” Stephen goes on to prove his point by reminding them of the idols in the wilderness (church/assembly: non-building). Even after seeing God’s glory on the mountain, the leaders took up a different tent, one that belonged to Moloch: “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. ⁴⁰ They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ ^{[a] 41} That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. ⁴² But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? ⁴³ You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship.        Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon (7:39-43).

7:46-50 Davidic/temple summation who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: ⁴⁹ ” ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?   ⁵⁰ Has not my hand made all these things?’

Next comes David, and God’s rejection of him as a Temple builder for Solomon (Peaceful, from shalom) and Joshua (Greek Iesos, English: Jesus). Solomon took the remains of the original Tabernacle and put it in the Temple (500 years old). God doesn’t live or settle in things made by man, temples or tabernacles. His dwelling is made supernaturally: divine conception. Heaven is His throne, earth is His footstool: This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word (Isaiah 66:1, 2). Stephen doesn’t deny that God manifested Hid presence in the Temple, he simply states that God is bigger than a building.

Conclusion: 7:51-54 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” The leaders were doing as their forefathers had: resisting Holy Spirit. All of the prophets were persecuted by the Jewish leaders back in ‘the day,’ as they announced ‘THE DAY’ of the Lord. Now the summation of all the guilt for these past infractions was culminating in the death of Jesus. (53) The mention of angels here is important. Angels were a part of the giving of the law on Sinai. These men rejected the law giver, therefore they were the guilty ones. They condemned the Son of Man as they rejected the supernatural manifestations of God in their midst. Its kind of like removing Religious cards for Bunnies.